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Supplement evidence

058 / 575Mineral form

Iron bisglycinate

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The short answer

An oral iron form that may improve GI tolerance in some populations while correcting deficiency.

Evidence and scope
Conditional or population-specific

This status does not grade the ingredient for every goal, outcome, or person.

Important limitation
Benefit depends on the population, formulation, baseline status, and objective; results should not be generalized.
Before deciding
Key concern: Same medicine-spacing and overdose precautions as other oral iron; do not take without confirmed need.

01 / PRACTICAL GUIDE

Dose, absorption, and combinations

These are indication-specific reference or studied ranges—not a personalized prescription. Start with the objective, then check the form, label, medicines, and health conditions.

Reference range by objective
Confirmed deficiencyCommon studies use 25–36 mg/day elemental iron; lab- and clinician-directed

Reference or studied range—not a personalized prescription. The product label or a clinician may specify a different dose.

Dose source

More is not automatically better. A clinician or product label may specify a different amount.

Absorption / solubilityFormulation-dependent

Not usefully classified as a fat- or water-soluble vitamin; absorption depends on the salt, extract, delivery system, and meal.

How it is commonly taken

May be taken with food if needed; dose by elemental iron.

Do not combine casually

Same medicine-spacing and overdose precautions as other oral iron; do not take without confirmed need.

Dose and use source

Dose and use links lead to primary or official source material. Search links are discovery tools, not proof that every returned paper applies.

02 / EVIDENCE

What the research says

We keep supportive, mixed, negative, safety, and contextual findings together. The headline never replaces the underlying papers.

4research papers in this ledger
3unique primary studies represented
207unique participants represented

These are audited counts for this JIVANA collection, not search-result totals. Participants are counted once when multiple papers use the same cohort; review papers are not added again to participant totals.

Open the research timelineResearch timeline

Entries are ordered by publication year. A study period appears only when the source reports it.

2022
Evidence contextPMID 35276810

Ferrous Bisglycinate and Folinic Acid in Pregnant Women with Iron Deficiency

The lower-dose combination improved iron markers and caused fewer gastrointestinal symptoms than fumarate, but folinic acid, multiple vitamins, and unequal iron doses prevent attributing the result to bisglycinate alone.

Study design and methods
Design
Randomized active-control trial
Population
120 pregnant women with iron deficiency at 12–16 weeks
Intervention
Bisglycinate providing 24 mg iron with folinic acid and multivitamins versus ferrous fumarate providing 66 mg iron
Outcome
Short-term serum iron, hematologic and iron-status markers, and gastrointestinal symptoms

Funding or conflict note: Max Biocare funded the study. It is excluded from aggregate totals because the test product combined bisglycinate with folinic acid and multivitamins and used a different elemental-iron dose than control.

Open research record
2021
Does not support the tested claimPMID 34171389 · NCT02458625

Addition of oral iron bisglycinate to intravenous iron sucrose for postpartum anemia

Adding bisglycinate increased hemoglobin by only 0.4 g/dL, did not improve anemia thresholds, iron stores, or quality of life, and caused adverse effects in 29%. Intravenous iron alone was sufficient in this setting.

Study design and methods
Design
Randomized controlled add-on trial
Population
158 postpartum women with hemoglobin 9.5 g/dL or lower; 107 completed analysis
Intervention
All received 500 mg intravenous iron sucrose; oral iron bisglycinate 60 mg for 45 days or no additional iron
Outcome
Hemoglobin, iron stores, quality of life, adverse effects, and treatment satisfaction
Open research record
2018
Mixed or qualifiedPMID 30280670

Iron Bisglycinate Chelate and Polymaltose Iron for Iron Deficiency Anemia

Both forms improved hemoglobin and several indices; only bisglycinate significantly increased ferritin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin from baseline. With only 20 completers and no clear between-group significance for most outcomes, this is preliminary evidence.

Study design and methods
Design
Double-blind pilot randomized trial
Population
20 children aged 1–13 with iron-deficiency anemia
Intervention
Iron bisglycinate or iron polymaltose, each providing 3 mg iron/kg/day
Outcome
Hemoglobin, red-cell indices, ferritin, transferrin, and adverse effects
Open research record
2014
Supports a specific usePMID 24152889

Ferrous bisglycinate 25 mg versus ferrous sulfate 50 mg for prevention of iron deficiency in pregnancy

Low-dose bisglycinate was not inferior to twice as much elemental iron as sulfate for preventing deficiency or anemia, and gastrointestinal complaints were less frequent. This prevention result in healthy pregnant women is not a treatment comparison for established anemia.

Study design and methods
Design
Randomized, double-blind, intention-to-treat trial
Population
80 healthy Danish pregnant women
Intervention
Ferrous bisglycinate providing 25 mg iron daily or ferrous sulfate providing 50 mg
Outcome
Iron deficiency, iron-deficiency anemia, hematologic markers, and gastrointestinal complaints
Open research record
Unscreened discovery appendix—not evidence2 candidate publicationsSearch run: Aug 21, 2026

Complete for the displayed PubMed query at the search timestamp—not for all databases or every possible synonym. Candidates can be irrelevant, duplicate the same study, or report negative findings. They are never summed as evidence or participants until screened.

03 / SOURCES

Start with the source material

The live search is for discovery only. Search-result counts change and are not included in the audited totals above.

Recent PubMed discovery recordsDirect links to the first 12 records returned by the reproducible search. These are discovery candidates—not reviewed summaries or a count of supportive findings.
  1. Addition of oral iron bisglycinate to intravenous iron sucrose for the treatment of postpartum anemia-randomized controlled trial.Yefet E, Mruat Rabah S, Sela ND et al. · 2021 · American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · PMID 34171389Open on PubMed
  2. Iron Bisglycinate Chelate and Polymaltose Iron for the Treatment of Iron Deficiency Anemia: A Pilot Randomized Trial.Name JJ, Vasconcelos AR, Valzachi Rocha Maluf MC · 2018 · Current pediatric reviews · PMID 30280670Open on PubMed

04 / EXPERT CONTEXT

Expert context—not evidence

Expert positions are dated context—not scientific evidence. They never raise the evidence status or become consensus by repetition.

No direct, source-verified endorsement is currently recorded. Research authorship or discussion alone is not treated as endorsement.

Educational information only—not medical advice. Product quality, dose, medicines, pregnancy, and kidney or liver disease can materially change safety.